Hobbes on Liberty Notes for September 25

Main points

What’s going on in the first four paragraphs. What does all that stuff about water, rocks and the “free-man” mean and why is it there?

How could Hobbes have denied that the subjects’ liberty limits the sovereign’s power but the sovereign’s power does not necessarily limit the subjects’ liberty?

Why did Hobbes go on about people being inspired by classical antiquity, that is, ancient Greek and Roman republics?

Did Hobbes think that the sole function of law is to limit liberty?

OK, that was four. We’ll do the last two on Wednesday.

Metaphysics and politics

The material in the first four paragraphs of Ch. 21 is about metaphysics, the nature of reality.

The first starts with a statement about what liberty is in general, for any thing you could find in the universe. It claims that liberty the absence of external impediments of motion.

Nick, Valerie, and I all expressed some reservations about the distinction between the ‘external’ impediments that are said to limit liberty and the ‘internal’ ones that are said to constitute a lack of power. These reservations grew considerably when Derek pointed out that Hobbes had said in Ch. 14 that impediments to liberty (external, you would think), can take away power (the internal side of the distinction). But that’s a digression from the main thread of the discussion.

The second paragraph limits the discussion to the movements of a particular kind of body (the human kind) with a particular kind of cause (will). In other words, it is about what you might call the liberty of a human being or human action.

The third and fourth paragraphs are about two conditions that are thought to be incompatible with human liberty: fear and causal determination.

The fifth paragraph shifts from ‘natural’ impediments to ‘artificial’ ones. Artificial impediments are those that depend on the covenants that created the sovereign and commonwealth. The sovereign is created by human beings, hence, it is artificial.

But what do the first four paragraphs have to do with the rest? Two things, I think.

First, I think we can make another point for our (OK, my) case for saying that Hobbes did not hold that moral and legal obligations consist in what the sovereign forces you to do. The sovereign may inspire fear, but being afraid is not the same thing as having a moral or legal obligation. Proof: I can be legally obliged to stop at a red light even if there is no one around to enforce it.

Second, I think Hobbes meant to propose a single abstract way of understanding “liberty” that is common to the metaphysical, moral, and political uses of the term. Liberty is unilateral, meaning that you can have liberty to do A even if you cannot do anything other than A. For instance, if I were to drop my cup, the coffee would gain the liberty to spill on the floor even if it is incapable of doing anything else, such as staying in the shape of the cup or forming itself into a bust of Winston Churchill. Similarly, human liberty is compatible with causal determination. I am free to order lunch even if I am causally determined to do so by my feelings of hunger. Finally, I can have the liberty to do what the law allows even if it forbids me from doing the opposite. The law leaves me at liberty to drive on the right even though it forbids me from driving on the left.

The first of these is more important than the second for understanding Hobbes’s political philosophy. But it does help to see why he would have thought that the first four paragraphs had anything at all to do with the rest of the chapter.

David and Uriah

11:1 And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when
kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with
him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and
besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.

11:2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off
his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the
roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful
to look upon.

11:3 And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not
this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
11:4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto
him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness:
and she returned unto her house.

11:5 And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am
with child.

11:6 And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And
Joab sent Uriah to David.

11:7 And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab
did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.

11:8 And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet.
And Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and there followed him a
mess of meat from the king.

11:9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the
servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.

11:10 And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto
his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey?
why then didst thou not go down unto thine house? 11:11 And Uriah
said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and
my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open
fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to
lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not
do this thing.

11:12 And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I
will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the
morrow.

11:13 And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him;
and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with
the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.

11:14 And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to
Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

11:15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the
forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may
be smitten, and die.

11:16 And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he
assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.

11:17 And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and
there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the
Hittite died also.

11:18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;
11:19 And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of
telling the matters of the war unto the king, 11:20 And if so be that
the king’s wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye
so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would
shoot from the wall? 11:21 Who smote Abimelech the son of
Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him
from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then
say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

11:22 So the messenger went, and came and shewed David all that Joab
had sent him for.

11:23 And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed
against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them
even unto the entering of the gate.

11:24 And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants; and
some of the king’s servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite
is dead also.

11:25 Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto
Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one
as well as another: make thy battle more strong against the city, and
overthrow it: and encourage thou him.

11:26 And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was
dead, she mourned for her husband.

11:27 And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to
his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing
that David had done displeased the LORD.

12:1 And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and
said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the
other poor.

12:2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: 12:3 But the
poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought
and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his
children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and
lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.

12:4 And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to
take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring
man that was come unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed
it for the man that was come to him.

12:5 And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he
said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing
shall surely die: 12:6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because
he did this thing, and because he had no pity.

12:7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD
God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee
out of the hand of Saul; 12:8 And I gave thee thy master’s house, and
thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel
and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have
given unto thee such and such things.

12:9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do
evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword,
and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the
sword of the children of Ammon.

12:10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house;
because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the
Hittite to be thy wife.

12:11 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee
out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes,
and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in
the sight of this sun.

12:12 For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all
Israel, and before the sun.

12:13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And
Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou
shalt not die.

12:14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to
the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto
thee shall surely die.

12:15 And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the
child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.

12:16 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted,
and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.

12:17 And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him
up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with
them.

12:18 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And
the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for
they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him,
and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself,
if we tell him that the child is dead? 12:19 But when David saw that
his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead:
therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they
said, He is dead.

12:20 Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed
himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD,
and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required,
they set bread before him, and he did eat.

12:21 Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou
hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive;
but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.

12:22 And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept:
for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the
child may live? 12:23 But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast?
can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return
to me.

12:24 And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her,
and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon:
and the LORD loved him.